Improvement in machines for finishing horseshoe-nails



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. G; L. HALL. Machine for Finishing Horseshoe Nails.

No. 210,322. Patented Nov. 26,1878.

771172 asses. Inventor 56. 6? GeaZZj-Zall.

MPETERS, FHOTOALITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrin.

GEORGE L. HALL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING HORSESHOE-NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,322, dated November26, 1878; application filed November 9, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. HALL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machinery for the lvlanufacture of Horseshoe-Nails, ofwhich the following is a specification:

My present invention, as set forth in this specification, relates tomechanism for the production of horseshoe-nails by the combined systemof preliminary swaging and final punching or trimming, the thickness ofthe nail and its head being completed by the first and the pointing andtrimming by the latter; and my invention consists, in the main, in theemployment, in connection with the preliminary swaging-dies and thefinal trimming or finishing die, of a rotary index-wheel or carrier,provided with equidistant peripheral notches or pockets to receive andsteady the nails, and intermittingly advancing in one direction only, ashereinafter described.

The drawings accompanying this specification and illustrating myinvention represent, in Figure 1, a side elevation, in Fig. 2 a plan,and in Fig. 3 a vertical cross-section, of a machine embodying myimprovement. Fig. 4 of said drawings represents a side view'of thenail-carrier and its ratchet-wheel.

In the above-named drawings, the letter A represents the frame of themachine, the same consisting of a horizontal base or bed plate, B, andtwo upright standards, 0 O, erected upon such base, while D represents athird upright standard or abutment, which constitutes the seat of thetrimming-die and the support of the nail-carrier, such abutment D beingsituated immediately in front of and at right angles to the frontstandard, G, and being firm and solid in character.

Two parallel horizontal shafts, E F, are mounted in hearings in theupper part of the standards 0 O, and are put in rotation by the impulseof a pulley fixed to the first, E, which thus becomes the drivingrshaftof the machine, motion being transmitted from it to the shaft F by twingears, G H, mounted upon the two, as shown in the drawings.

To the front end of each shaft E F, as it protrudes beyond the frontface of the stand close proximity to each other in opposite directions,while each hub or roller has a circumferential twin-shaped channel, a,which channels coincide one with the other, and operate to swage betweenthem and reduce a nailblank to the requisite thickness as to its bodyand complete its head, and to reduce such nail in part to the desiredwidth, leaving its point to be completed by the final trimmingdie.

. The said trimming-die, through which the nail is finally crowded tocomplete its manufacture-that is to say, to trim its side edges, andthereby complete its point and remove the burrs or excess of metal leftas it emerges from the roller-dies I I'--is shown at J as located in thelower part of the abutment D, below the index-carrier and the otheroperative parts of the machine in general, while a plunger, K, isdisposed upon the top of the bedplate B, and at right angles to theplane of the abutment D, and operates with the die J to crowd a nailthrough the latter at each advance.

The employment of roller swaging-dies to reduce a nail-blank to itsgeneral form, and of the die and plunger to complete the shape of thenail, constitute in themselves no part of my present improvement, butare only elementary features which go toward making up an entireoperative machine, and cooperate with and make available the rotaryindex-wheel or carrier, which I consider to be the chief feature in myinvention. S uch roller swagin g-dies and the punch-die and plunger haveheretofore, under varying arrangements,.been embodied in Letters Patentissued to myself and others for machinery for the manufacture ofhorseshoe-nails.

In carrying my present invention into practice, I provide a circularflat plate or disk, L, of a thickness somewhat in excess of that of thehead of a nail produced by the dies I I. and I pivot this plate L to thefront face of the abutment D, and below the said dies I I, by ahorizontal bolt or stud, N, in such manner that the said plate L ispermitted to rotate in one direction upon its pivot, but with such adegree of friction between them or with respect to the abutment as shallprevent aeci dental slipping or derangement of the plate upon itssupport.

Proceeding, I form in the periphery of the plate L a series ofequidistant radial notches or pockets, to a, 850., each pocket ingeneral form corresponding to the head and upper part of a nail producedby the dies I I, which it is destined to receive, the enlarged portionof each notch designed to receive the head of a nail being nearest theaxis of the carrier, in order that the head of the nail resting in thisenlargement of the notch shall prevent escape of the nail when, by theadvance of the carrier, the position of the nail has become reversed,end for end, and its point is presented downward.

The plate L constitutes an intermittinglyadvancing rotary carrier orcarriage for transferring the nails, as they emerge in regularsuccession from the dies I I, to the punch-die J, and each of thenotches or receptacles a, in its appointed order, receives a nail pointupward, and presents it point downward in front of the said trimming-dieJ, the operation of swa gin g the n ails, their descent into the notchesof the carrier, their arrival in front of the trimming-die, and theirfinal passage into and through the latter being carried on in regularcontinuity, and the movements of the various parts of the machine beingautomatic after the nail-blank is fed between the roller-dies by theattendant.

It is, of course, essential that intermittent rotary advances in onedirection be imparted to the carrier L, in order that it may halt whilea nail is being precipitated into one of its notches from theroller-dies above, and then advance to carry this nail one step in itsjourney to the final die, and present the next succeedin g notch underthe grooves of the rollerdies, so as to receive the next descendingnail, and also in order to permit the plunger K to advance and crowd anail from one of the notches into the trimming-die J, the respectivemovements of the roller-dies and plunger being so timed with respect tothose of the carrier that with each halt of such carrier the saidrollers swage and drop a nail, and the plunger effects an advance andretreat movement.

To carry out these essential movements I proceed as follows: To effectthe intermittent advances in one direction only of the carrier L, Iaffix to its front face a ratchel-wheel, O; and to operate thisratchet-wheel I employ a horizontal driving-dog, I, sliding in guidesformed in the standards 0 G, and arranged below the shafts E F, such doghaving an up right arm, I), which stands in front of and is operated bythe cam-face 0 of a hub, d, aflixed to the shaft E, the arm I) beingcrowded against the said cam-face 0 by a spring, I), suitably applied.

To efi'ect the requisite reciprocating movement of the plunger K towardand from the base B, and with respect to the die J, with which itoperates, I employ a wiper-cam, 0, formed upon the front end of a hub,f, which is mounted upon the shaft F, such cam 0 impinging against astud, g, extending laterally from the inner end of a horizontal rod orbar, h, which is forked, and straddles at its inner end the said shaftF, to find one bearing or support, while its opposite and outer end ispivoted to the upper end of the upper and shorter arm, 1', of an uprightlever, j, which, in turn, is fulcrumed, as shown at k, to the outerextremity of a bracket, 1, projecting from the front side of thestandard 0, the said arm t' being crowded toward the shaft F by aspring, a, properly applied, in order to maintain the stud g in contactwith the cam 0, while the lower end of the lever j is pivoted, as shownat m, to the outer end of the plunger or follower K, before described.

It is obvious that rotations of the shaft F and cam 0 (simultaneouslywith those of the shaft E and cam 0) will, through the instrumentalityof the bar it, lever j, and spring 0, effect reciprocating movements ofthe plunger K toward and from the bed-plate with respect to the carrierL and its notches a and the passage J, and the extent of the forwardmovement of said plunger is such as to push a nail from the coincidingnotch of the carrier out of such notch and into the coinciding passageJ, the respective positions and functions of the cams c and c inrelation to the dies I I, the carrier L, and plunger K being socalculated or timed that as the carrier halts in receiving a nail, asbefore explained, the plunger advances and drives the nail from thenotch op posite it, it being observed that the plunger is placed in sucha position with respect to the carrier and the passage J that as thecarrier stops one of its notches a, the passage J, and the nose 0 of theplunger are in alignment.

To temporarily receive a nail as it is precipi tated from between therollers 1 I, I place alongside the upper part of the carrier L, andimmediately below the rollers, a tunnel or guide, a, which constitutes achute, to deflect the nail as it is delivered head downward from therollers, and guide it into coinciding notch a of the carrier. The bottomof the guide a should be sloping, as represented, the more effectuallyto guide the nail into the notch, while, if deemed necessary, areciprocating plunger or a spring-latch may be employed to operate withthe guide'and the carrier to impel the nail with a positive movementinto the notch.

A shield, 0, is placed over the periphery of the carrier L below therollerdies, to prevent entanglement of the nails as they are deliw eredfrom such rollers with the peripheral notches of such carrier, and todivert the nails into the chute or guide a; while, to maintain the nailsin place within the notches a a, 8-10.,

of the carrier as the latter revolves, and before the punch-passage J isreached, I employ an annular or semi-annular shield, 17, placed in frontof the outer portion of the carrier, and which terminates or is open ata point immediately opposite the passage J.

The mode of operation of my improved machinery will be fully understoodfrom the foregoing description, and does not require to be further setforth.

The details of mechanism which I have explained as one means ofeffecting the movements of the nail-carrier L in consonance with thoseof the roller-dies and the plunger K are susceptible of change orsubstitution without losing sight of the essential feature of myinvention, and I do not restrict myself in any sense to such details, asit would require but the exercise of ordinary skill on the part of amechanic to change or avoid them altogether and yet effect the requisitemovements of the elementary features of the machine.

I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, as follows:

cams to the carrier-wheel and the punch, substantially as set forth.

GEO. L. HALL.

Witnesses:

F. OURTIs, H. E. LODGE.

